Welcome to the online diary of a Central Oregon Grandmother (me) who is busy celebrating the positive portions of her everyday life ... along with her best friend husband (Cary). It is quite an eclectic diary and I try to do my best to incorporate a little bit of history into many of my posts. Your visit to our piece of American Pie is greatly appreciated. This chatty Kathy posts frequently, so coming back to visit often is highly encouraged.

Showing you Oregon,one post at a time. Did you know that I post the links of many of my stories and articles on the sidebar? When you have extra time, please scroll down to see more. At the bottom of this page there are links to many other blogs that I enjoy.

Hello, friends, thank you so much for stopping by. I really hope that you will enjoy your visit to Oregon Gifts. Due to spam, I am not accepting comments from anonymous people. Please email me at: oregongiftsofcomfortandjoy@hotmail.com if you are unable to leave a comment on here. I write back through email when I can.

My words and photographs are copyrighted, and may not be used without permission, even on Pinterest.

~ Kathy M.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

A December Weekend in Bend:

This weekend, I went on a little get-away with my best friend husband. We decided to take the short trip to Bend, and get a room for a couple of nights. In October 2009, we did this the first time, and here is the blog post about it with photos of the room if you would like to read about it later: Phoenix Inn, Bend Oregon.

What eventually happened on this trip was that we kind of ended up just laying low. It was really cold outside! We stayed only a block away from downtown, like we did before, and thought that we would be walking all over the place, shopping, taking photos, listening to music and ending up in our room after the band sang their last song. It didn't exactly play out that way, but we enjoyed ourselves, and started appreciating the good parts of home.

On Friday night, we were going to take pictures of the Kayakers Light Parade on Mirror Pond in downtown Bend. We got there at 5:00, like we were supposed to, and we could see a few lit kayaks down and around the corner. They kept getting farther away, and we figured that we had missed the parade. We later learned that we were just too early and were gathering down there to get ready. Dang it. I really wanted to take a picture of Santa Claus on the water.

I did take the following photos of the pond, but they didn't turn out very clearly. The first one is awfully pretty though, I think. Kind of like a Thomas Kincaid:

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

I was using the twilight setting on these two, and it blurred the lights. It is all about experimenting, and they don't always turn out well. Sometimes they come out kind of cool though.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

On the way back from the pond, I took some photos of the window displays. I kept thinking about being like Georgie Girl, window shopping but never stopping to buy:

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

The next morning we hung out, and ate the buffet breakfast at the hotel. Then I had to start thinking about making a choice. There were two things that I wanted to see and do ... the Christmas Parade and the civil war game between The Ducks and The Beavers. Cary likes parades too, but he had already chosen football. The parade was to begin at 12:00 and the game at 12:30. The parade would give me plenty of opportunities for some great photos, and even if I missed the first part of the game, I could have gone to see the parade. Still, it was so dang cold outside. The game was on t.v. all over town, but we wanted to watch it on the big screen at the movie theater in McMenamins, on our own cozy little love seat. In order to make sure we got a good seat, we waited in line for a half and hour outside, and THAT is when I figured out how cold it really was! I skipped the parade.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

While we were waiting for the game to begin, I took some pictures of the light fixtures and decorations in the theater. I wasn't using my flash because I didn't want to bother anybody.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

The game was great, and of course, Oregon won. Now the Ducks are going on to play in the national championship game in Arizona in January. GO DUCKS!!!!

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Truth be told, it wasn't that smooth of a game early on. Lots of mistakes were made on both sides. I attributed that to the new Oregon uniforms. Oregon colors are supposed to be green and gold. Not yesterday! Yesterday they were silver and white. Plus, they left the names off of the back of the jerseys, just like the New York Yankees do. I always think that is kind of stuck up; like you are just supposed to memorize everybody. In football, when they are all wearing helmets it is just not that easy to figure out who is who, you guys.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon's first touchdown of the game!

So, that was that. We ate pizza during the game and had Chinese food later on for dinner.

On the way home this morning, I took some photos out of the car window of the trees and snow. Pretty, but very cold:

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

So, there you go. We had a nice weekend, and I hope that each one of you did too.

Contact Info:

There are a lot of photos and other graphics on here, so it may take a while to load if you have a slower internet connection. I really appreciate the fact that some of you wait patiently to see what I have posted. Thank you to all my readers! Please leave a comment or send me an email at: oregongiftsofcomfortandjoy@hotmail.com

About Me:

Welcome to "Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy" My name is Kathy Matthews and I live in Central Oregon with my best friend husband, Cary. I am a fifth generation Oregonian who loves to take pictures, write, create, and go places with Cary. My main blog, Oregon Gifts, is an online journal, where I try my best to celebrate the positive portions of everyday life. My other blogs are off-shoots into my particular interest areas. Please enjoy your visit, and leave a comment if you feel led. If you would like to email me, here is my email address: oregongiftsofcomfortandjoy@
hotmail.com
Thank you!

"Celebrating the Positive Portions of Everyday Life."

Most of the photos on these websites were taken by me. Others are from my friends and family's FB pages. Enjoy them, but please do not claim them as your own or use/copy them. Thanks! All rights reserved on the contents of this website. Created by Kathy Matthews of Central Oregon, November 2008.